The great bass player Christian McBride said, “Popular music in this era is decided by people between the ages of 18 and 25.” This accurate statement lends itself to the fact that young adults have a very high level of influence in the music that reaches the top of the charts. However, this age category isn’t simply listening, it’s participating too.

Among these young and budding artists is Haley Klinkhammer. This 21 year old attends college, knits, and writes music. She taught herself guitar at 14, followed by ukulele, piano, and other instruments including her own voice. When she first started progressing in her musical abilities, she began posting videos on YouTube to share her progress with her friends. After years of improvement, music became her passion, and she became enamored with writing her own music. She uses harmony intervals of 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, and 6ths, which continue to work well in the ears of many after being employed for ages. So what makes this girl special?

Think about Anna Kendrick and even Taylor Swift, who was Haley’s original inspiration. These girls, including Haley, have something in common besides being both talented and beautiful. Each of these girls seemed to enter the musical world in a fresh way. Taylor Swift was a bit of a high school outcast - people found that they not only enjoyed the fact that her vocal and guitar work was organic, but also that they could relate to her lyrics and life experiences. Anna Kendrick, gaining a lot of her fame from the movie Pitch Perfect, was portrayed as the loner musician girl who coupled an innocent smile with a voice of crystal. Again, this mixed well with a lot of modern day music enthusiasts. Then Haley hit YouTube.

“I didn’t go to school to learn to write music,” Haley said. She doesn’t pretend to be set apart because of her musical talents. In fact, in her song “Human Too,” her lyrics talk about how she is like everyone else, saying, “You may think we’re not the same. Got some news for you, I’m only human.” Haley bases a lot of her songs around the fact that life happens to everyone, especially her. Everyone that lives has to trudge through some waves, and this music relates to that. However, she adds an even greater twist in all of her music. “I try to end all of the songs that I write in a positive way,” she explains. This is true, in that her songs always seem to end on a major chord, even if the song is primarily minor, as in “From Where I’m Standing.”

While I was listening to this music, I knew that I needed to look into this artist even further and do self-guided research. This brought me to her website. I was impressed. Her site not only allows you to listen to her tracks and purchase her music, but it also promotes apparel and easily connects an interested fan to all of her social media pages. Navigation is simple and user friendly. This girl is professional.

Currently, her budding music career has kept her performing in the Wisconsin area. Having just released her first full-length album, “From Where I’m Standing,” she has a lot of room to increase her presence on the airwaves. Despite the fact that she has to hit the books hard this semester, look for new acoustic versions of some of her songs landing on YouTube. Most importantly, count her as an artist that is experiencing the same life that you and I experience every day. “I want people to know that they’re not alone. We’re all in this together.”